‘It’s what you do next that matters’: Optus puts trust at heart of major brand reset

Optus is attempting to turn the page on one of the most difficult periods in its history, putting trust at the heart of a major brand reset aimed at rebuilding its relationship with Australians.

The new platform, ‘There’s Always a Way’, represents the first major brand work from Droga5 ANZ since its appointment as Optus' creative agency in June 2025 and arrives as the telco works through a broader five-year strategy to become easier to trust, easier to choose and easier to do business with.

For chief corporate affairs and marketing officer Felicity Ross, the new campaign follows a much broader transformation already underway inside the business.

“In the last year and beyond, we've been going through a transformation program where we're looking to strengthen our processes and accountabilities and make sure we've got clearer and stronger governance,” Ross said.

“That work has been ongoing. What we really needed to do was create a more meaningful connection with Australians, and we know that.”

That transformation spans customer service, network resilience and the broader customer journey, with Optus also pointing to 24/7 human support, commitments to regional Australia and initiatives designed to keep customers safer.

Now, Ross believes the business is ready to start telling a different story.

“This is the time that we want to take that opportunity to reconnect with Australians and continue to talk about the things that matter to them,” she said.

Rather than continuing to look backwards, the platform attempts to reconnect Optus with the optimism that once sat behind its longstanding ‘Yes’ positioning, while putting greater emphasis on action and what the company does next.

The distinction matters. Optus' recent history means a new advertising campaign alone was never going to rebuild trust. Instead, the marketing is being positioned as the outward expression of changes taking place across the business.

The work follows months of customer research, including Optus teams spending time inside Australians' homes to better understand how connectivity fits into their everyday lives.

Putting action behind ‘Yes’

For Droga5, the challenge was not to discard one of Australia's most recognisable brand assets but give it renewed meaning.

“I think for all of us collectively, it was about building more meaning into ‘Yes’, taking it from optimistic positivity to positive action,” Droga5 ANZ chief creative officer Barbara Humphries said.

“I think that's really indicative of where the brand is at.”

The agency developed what Humphries describes as a strategy of “can-do connectivity”, looking at the role technology plays in enabling Australians rather than making connectivity itself the hero.

“It gave us a really interesting space to play in, that sense of action and energy,” Humphries said. “It really is tapping into how Australians behave and how they interact with technology and communications.”

That led to ‘There’s Always a Way’, a platform built around determination, resourcefulness and finding another route when things don't go according to plan.

As Humphries put it during a press briefing: “It’s what you do next that matters.”

The stakes were not lost on Droga5.

“There's a bit of responsibility when you get a brief like this at a time that Optus has had, so it was something we obviously didn't take lightly,” Droga5 ANZ chief executive Matthew Michael said.

“If you think about how hotly contested the telco industry is going to be over the next year, the stakes were obviously very high. Our aim was to bring back a sense of that everyday relevance for telcos and bring some emotion back into what a telco means. It is so important and plays such a big role in our lives.”

Finding Maria

The launch film, directed by Steve Ayson and shot on 35mm, tells the story of Maria, an Italian nonna unexpectedly thrust into coaching her grandson's basketball team.

For Humphries, the character became a way to make the new positioning tangible without falling back on conventional telecommunications advertising.

“The script of Maria was something that really stood out once we had that platform,” Humphries said.

“There's a really interesting juxtaposition between her character and her world and basketball, but we also don't see many stories in advertising with an 80-year-old person as the protagonist.”

Maria was put forward by her own granddaughter and ultimately became the centre of a much broader campaign world, extending beyond the hero film into 21 individual pieces of social content.

The intention is to tell a recognisably Australian story about family, community and determination, with Optus playing the role of enabler rather than putting phones, networks or telecommunications products at the centre.

And Maria won't be the last. Optus plans to build the platform around a broader collection of Australians and their stories as it seeks to make the brand more representative of modern Australia.

Putting proof behind the platform

The film is only the opening move in a seven-month investment plan spanning television, social, sponsorships, sport and other customer touchpoints.

Sport will play a significant role, including activations around Optus' NBL partnership, while the media strategy has been designed to put tangible proof behind ‘There’s Always a Way’ rather than simply repeat the brand line.

That approach also extends to how Optus intends to represent modern Australia.

As part of the reset, Optus is signing onto NITV's Beyond 3% initiative, committing 3% of its consumer brand media spend to First Nations media.

Under the banner of ‘Speaking Country, Word of the Week’, Optus will partner with NITV on a range of integrated initiatives designed to translate, celebrate and amplify First Nations languages.

The partnership will include ‘Word of the Week’ broadcasts, on-demand videos, audio, articles and social content sharing the stories and spotlighting the communities behind the featured words.

Plans also include a documentary focused on preserving the world’s oldest languages, exploring their foundational role in identity and how they can be supported to flourish.